Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Trying to Decide Between A Vitamix, Blendtec, Ninja or Nutrabullet? Here Are My Thoughts

As a health advocate and teacher (one of the definitions of
the word ‘Doctor’ means a learned or
authoritative teacher) patients, friends and friends of friends approach
me regularly regarding nutrition. What should I eat? What shouldn't I eat? Is
this or that good for me? And
inevitably, when it comes to nutrition I’m often asked about juicing, smoothies
and what’s the best blender or juicer I should get.

My Machine-The Vitamix 5200

Over the past year or so I’ve
been watching infomercials pop up on television purporting the virtues of XYZ
blender and ALWAYS comparing it to the Vitamix.
Now, I’m gonna tell you straight up, I’m biased. After I got married in
over 20 years ago, one of the things we purchased was a Vitamix. Why? Because I
always believed whole foods were better to eat than foods that had the juices
extracted from them.

As I studied nutrition,
turns out I was right. Not that there isn’t a place for fresh juice, but with
juice as opposed to blended whole foods, you’re missing out on some valuable
nutrition. As such, Vitamix was my
choice. Because a couple of my food experiments were a bit harsh (maybe a lot
harsh) on the Vitamix, after 18 years, we purchased a second Vitamix. Yes, I’m
a big fan. To be able to take veggies and frozen berries and blend them into a
smooth liquid is the fastest way for me to get some incredibly dense nutrition
into my body and absorbed.

That being said, I’ve had
some recent encounters with the Nutribullet, Blendtec and Ninja Turbo blenders
that prompted me to write this post. Why? Because they’re all lying to you
about the Vitamix.

The reason why the Vitamix
is such a great blender is because of the ultra-high blade speed. In an
infomercial promoting the Ninja to the Vitamix, they kept stating the Ninja has
the same blade speed as the Vitamix. 24,000 rpm. But here’s the thing about the
Ninja. That’s all it has. Yes, the motor is a bit more powerful in watts, but
the Vitamix has higher amperage. Oh, one
other very important thing (sit back, I’m about to expose the Ninja infomercial’s
cover-up . All you have to do on the Vitamix is flip the switch to the high
speed setting and the Vitamix trounces the Ninja’s palrty 24, 000 and raising
them to 37,000 rpms. Along with the Ninja, the Vitamix also trounces the
Blendtec’s 28,000 rpms, the Omega blender’s 27,500 rpms and the New Nutrabullet
900’s 25,000 rpms.

And here’s why the added
blade speed is important. Skins and seeds. If you’ve tried making smoothies
with berries, kale, chard, broccoli, ginger, turmeric, black radish and beets
like I do, you’ll need the higher blade speed to pulverize the skins, seeds and
dense fiber. Otherwise, as I’ve experience with the Blendtec, Ninja and
Nutribullet, you’ll end up doing the drinking-chew with your smoothie.

The added blade speed on
the Vitamix makes it the king of all smoothie makers because it takes skins,
seeds and dense fibrous veggies and blends them into a smooth liquid. No
chewing necessary.

And for all those infomercial
clowns that find it so awkward to use the tamper stick, how the hell do you
drive a car or use a cell phone? It’s a stick for crying out loud? Seriosly? I
make nut butters in my Vitamix and do so with much less oil and end up with a
much smoother end product than any of the other machines can because of the
tamper.

So if you’re on the fence
about which high speed blender to get, the others may have a more powerful
motor or funny infomercial, but the people at Vitamix have engineered a more
efficient motor that delivers what you need to pulverize the fruits and veggies
to get to the vital nutrients-blade speed.
Until another blender exceeds the Vitamix’s 37,000 rpms, don’t even
bother telling me about it. I'm tired of wasting my time.

If you want a “chewy”, get
the Nutribullet, Blendtec or Ninja. If you want to blend seriously dense fruit
and veggies into a real smooth smoothie, there’s no choice-The Vitamix is the
hands down king of all smoothies.

About Me

Dr. Todd
M. Narson graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in 1990 and is a Diplomate
of the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians (DACBSP). One
of only 240 DACBSPs in the country; 1 of 10 in Florida and the only one
practicing in Miami-Dade County, FL. . In 2011 Dr Narson was granted
anInternational Chiropractic Sports
Science Diploma (ICSSD)by
the International Federation of Sports Chiropractic (F.I.C.S.) and is the only
chiropractor in South Florida with such international credential.Dr.
Narson was a member of the COPAG international sports medicine team at the XVI
Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 2011.During his tenure at the Pan
American Games, he worked with teams from all over the Western hemisphere
including Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Peru
& Mexico.

Dr.
Narson has lived in South Florida for over 30 years. He is a 2-term
past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports
Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and has been on their governing
board for 8+ years. He was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic
Sports Physician of the Year award in 1999-2000.

Dr.
Narson was also a credentialed treating physician in the Poly-Clinics at the20th
Central American & All Caribbean Sport Games (XX Juegos Deportivos
CentroAmricanos Y Del Caribe), Cartegena, Colombia.

Dr.
Narson in inventor and developer of the Narson Body Mechanic N6, a soft tissue
"multi-tool" used for Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilizations
techniques such as FAKTR and others. He has been an M1 & M2 certified
Graston Technique(r) provider for the past 10 years and is trained in FAKTR
advanced soft tissue mobilization & rehabilitation techniques.

Along with Allen Miller, Dr. Narson has co-authored the paper: Protocols
For Proprioceptive Active Re-Training Boards (balance boards).
Published in Chiropractic Sports Medicine Magazine; the Journal of the American
Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians, Vol 9, No. 2, May 1995 pp 52-55.

Having
chiropractors associated with hospitals was unheard of here in Florida until
1994 when a small group of chiropractors were credentialed here in South
Florida. As some of the first chiropractors in the country to have such
privileges, Dr. Narson was part of the original group accepted into the
Chiropractic Division at Golden Glades Regional Medical Center.

Coining
the term: “Natural Sports Medicine” Dr. Narson has been
educating personal trainers at local gyms and health clubs for several years in
including well known clubs such as Club Body Tech, Crunch & David
Barton’s (Original) Gym in South Beach.

He was medical director
for the 1998 Pan American Race Walk Cup held in Downtown Miami
&

He also served as Medical
team member and treating physician for the 1999 Pan American Tae Kwon Do
Regional qualification Tournament for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games

Meet Director/treating
physician for the Sydney 2000 Para-Olympic Qualifier/USA Open-Power
lifting held in North Miami.

In
1994 Dr. Narson was asked to join the professional boxing team of Don
King’s light weight contender: Lamar “COSHISE” Murphy and was named
“Team Physician”. Providing the fighter with performance enhancement training
techniques, nutrition and chiropractic care, Dr. Narson worked with the boxing
trainers and traveled with team COCHISE Murphy around the country during his
1995 quest for the WBC lightweight title.

Coors
Lite, Gatorade, Jose’ Cuervo and Jiffy Lube were a few
of the sponsors of large sporting events such as beach volleyball, triathlons
and professional NASCAR racing that have credentialed Dr.
Narson as an on-site treating physician. Dr. Narson has also been
included on the sports medicine teams at the Miami Grand Prix, the Florida
Sunshine State Games as well as other national and international
sports competitions.

Dr.
Narson has had the privilege of being invited to treat the cast and crews of
the Broadway Shows: Les Miserables, The Rockettes, & Damn Yankees. To
date, Dr. Narson has spent over 1000 hours working “on field” with athletes at
various sporting events from local regional athletes, to world class Olympians
& professionals.

Sports
medicine is on the cutting edge of healthcare, Dr. Narson uses his experience
and education with athletes and sports injuries to treat all patients, not just
athletes. Dr. Narson feels everyone deserves the knowledge of a
sports medicine physician, because everyone, in their own way is an athlete as
some level.

Dr.
Narson practices in Miami Beach with his partner and wife, Dr. Corey
Narson. Drs. Narson has lived in Miami Beach since 1993 where they
also raise their children.

Dr. Narson is an active triathlete and member of the South Florida Triathletes Hammerheads triathlon club. He is holds a 1st dan blackbelt in shotokan karate.